ROOKE: UK’s Digital Dystopia Is A Warning For America — But Some Are Treating It Like A Roadmap

Two stories from two countries with no direct operation, institutional, or causal connection couldn’t be more intertwined.

The U.K. is in the midst of rolling out its proposed mandatory digital ID scheme. At the same time, U.S. Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Dan Bongino briefed nine Republican members of Congress that former President Joe Biden’s FBI allegedly targeted them with surveillance measures during the Jan. 6 investigations, led by Special Counsel Jack Smith, Fox Digital reported.

Eight U.S. Senators and one U.S. House member, all vocal supporters of President Donald Trump, were allegedly targeted during the FBI’s Jan. 6 probe, which included the acquisition of their cell phone metadata from service providers. This metadata reportedly included call logs and the location of the calls.

The Biden FBI spied on Republicans who support @realDonaldTrump.

This was the weaponization of one of our nation’s top intelligence agencies, and those responsible must be held to account. pic.twitter.com/KF4euJQXbg

— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) October 6, 2025

In September, under the guise of cracking down on illegal immigration, the U.K. government, led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, announced plans to introduce a mandatory digital identity program (dubbed the “BritCard”), primarily aimed at verifying individuals’ right to live and work in the country. Of course, the U.K. government presents its scheme as a free and secure tool for citizens and legal residents to easily access state services, while also enabling the government to combat illegal employment and fraud. (Sign up for Mary Rooke’s weekly newsletter here!)

“Don’t worry, everyone, it won’t be turned into a Communist-style social credit system. Just give us a little bit of your freedom, and in return, you don’t have to carry a physical ID. We won’t do anything to abuse it. We are the government, and we are here to help.”

While it may seem the two dystopian stories are not explicitly coordinated, on a broader level, particularly as evidence of our increasingly surveillance-driven era, it appears the U.K. government and the U.S. intelligence apparatus are (and have been for a while) scheming to leverage digital tools for monitoring, controlling, and collecting data from their citizens. If nothing else, it’s a concerning normalization of the rise of the surveillance state. (ROOKE: Gen Z Divorces Are Just As Abnormal As You’d Expect: No Shame, Quick Splits, And ‘Queer Solidarity’)

As Americans, it’s hard not to realize that our country was one election away from having a similar mandatory digital identity scheme. Bongino claims the FBI is out of the business of spying on U.S. citizens. Still, the practice has been going on for as long as we’ve had intelligence agencies in this country. It’s hard to believe that on a dime, the bad actors have suddenly had a change of heart. Especially knowing how they “monitored” Trump and others throughout his first term.

There is hope in the U.K. as millions sign petitions in protest of the BritCard, with vocal critics calling it an authoritarian overreach. The reality is that the U.K. people elected a government not interested in governing in their interests, but rather in their own globalist agenda. This puts them in a very precarious position, as it involves more than just the government collecting data from its citizens, given the direct involvement of U.S. and U.K. tech firms in enabling the surveillance.

Old school Nokia phones to make a comeback to avoid Keir Starmer’s mandatory digital ID. Are we about to see a counter culture revolution against tech entrapment? pic.twitter.com/Hd1Tz1jvYp

— James Melville 🚜 (@JamesMelville) October 7, 2025

Additionally, Vice President JD Vance and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard worked with the U.K. government to halt an order for Apple to build a backdoor into its devices. Gabbard said that without the agreement, the British government would have “enabled access to the protected encrypted data of American citizens and encroached on our civil liberties.”

And while it’s concerning to watch our brothers in the U.K. march down the path of no return, it should serve as the canary in the coal mine for American citizens. Especially knowing that U.S. tech firms like Oracle and Palantir continue to blend corporate interests with government power, both at home and abroad.

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